Pokemon Emerald - Monotype Bug Part 1: Gym Leader Roxanne
78Challenge playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL126718C0B8199933
Something I started a while ago that I didn't upload because I had way too many other series to share.
Monotype Bug is a challenge in Pokemon Emerald where I'll limit myself to using only bug-type Pokemon. This game introduces a nice variety of them. They do share some common weaknesses, but are diverse as a whole. Roxanne, Flannery and Winona are the obvious three problematic leaders, as their attacks hit 2x or even 4x effectively.
I play this run like I would play a normal Pokemon playthrough, i.e. efficiently. This means I won't be grinding for unnecessary levels, but stick to just battling the trainers for exp. Some very inefficient choices would be training Dustox (inferior to Beautifly, really) or training Armaldo (its pre-evolved form is acquired at a terribly low level and there's little pay-off in having him in your party after the headache of training him). So no OCD bullshit.
I've played quite a bit of the challenge by now and the only grinding that I really did was to evolve a Wurmple into a Beautifly. You never know what route your Wurmple will go until it evolves into its second tier form but I got the one I wanted right off the bat. Beautifly has a superior learnset, typing & coverage and stats to Dustox, who is more defensively oriented (read: sucks).
Also, if anyone wonders why I'd do this challenge. I'm a bug lover. Not the kind of nerd who remembers species Latin names and whatnot and collects bugs' dried corpses (though I guess I'd do just that if I could have better attention spans), but I can never ignore bugs when I encounter them IRL. It'll end up strolling over my body and I'll share my joy with others by having them communicate with the insect as well, though normally this joy isn't shared. Yeah. The only insect that's topical in my area whom I hate is moths. Goddamn moths flying around at night in the summer, not letting me sleep. Really ruins my nights. Luckily, the Venonat family is nowhere to be found in the Hoenn region lol.
Anyway, the first gym is pretty hard, and it might've been a good idea to catch even more suicidal Wurmples for Nosepass but this attempt was successful so there was no need to fix that.
Roxanne uses 2 Geodudes and a Nosepass, which in the Emerald version has Block, which is kinda annoying. We want her to use both of her Potions on the Geodudes because Nosepass is far harder to hit with its stats and lack of 4x weakness to grass.
Beautifly actually gets OHKO'd by all the rock-type moves the Pokemon here pack, so I Sand-Attack the victims before switching it in. It increase the butterfly's chances of survival, though by no means guarantees that it will survive. This is not just a filler Nincada, as both Ninjask and Shedinja will see extensive use in this run. I got one with a +attack nature so that it kicks more ass. It actually does pretty well in trainer battles before evolving, mainly thanks to its high defence.
Absorb is not quite enough to OHKO the Geodudes, which is actually not a problem at all, because it means getting Roxanne to use both the Potions before Nosepass is very easy. We just need to dodge those Rock Throws/Tombs.
Nosepass is where it gets more annoying. I have Nincada Sand-Attack it all the 6 times, after which I'd gladly switch out but Block won't let me. With the accuracy down, I start attempting to poison the thing with some Wurmples caught specifically for this here occasion. When it's poisoned, we just sit there and hope we'll withstand its attacks (they better miss or else) before it succumbs to poison. Beautiful's Absorb deals nice chip damage but it may not last long enough - here I actually lose it on the switch-in, which is pretty stupid.
Beautifly is a tremendous Pokemon in the first third or half of the game, or so. STAB Gust + Absorb gives it really good coverage against most trainers' Pokemon, and it learns Stun Spore and Mega Drain a little later. It only starts getting obsolete after the fourth gym or so. Its special attack is about as high as Abra's, I think.